High order numerical discretizations of the Einstein-Euler equations in the Generalized Harmonic formulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces two high-order numerical schemes, CWENO and ADER-DG, for solving the Einstein-Euler equations in Generalized Harmonic formulation, validated on various test cases including black holes and neutron stars.

Contribution

It presents novel finite difference and discontinuous Galerkin schemes with well-balancing for Einstein-Euler equations, suitable for complex 3D astrophysical simulations.

Findings

Successfully reproduces standard vacuum test cases.

Achieves long-term stable evolutions of Kerr black holes.

Demonstrates capability to simulate Einstein-Euler systems with matter.

Abstract

We propose two new alternative numerical schemes to solve the coupled Einstein-Euler equations in the Generalized Harmonic formulation. The first one is a finite difference (FD) Central Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (CWENO) scheme on a traditional Cartesian mesh, while the second one is an ADER (Arbitrary high order Derivatives) discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme on 2D unstructured polygonal meshes. The latter, in particular, represents a preliminary step in view of a full 3D numerical relativity calculation on moving meshes. Both schemes are equipped with a well-balancing (WB) property, which allows to preserve the equilibrium of a priori known stationary solutions exactly at the discrete level. We validate our numerical approaches by successfully reproducing standard vacuum test cases, such as the robust stability, the linearized wave, and the gauge wave tests, as well as achieving long-term stable evolutions of stationary black holes, including Kerr black holes with extreme spin. Concerning the coupling with matter, modeled by the relativistic Euler equations, we perform some special relativistic Riemann problems, a classical test of spherical accretion onto a Schwarzschild black hole, as well as an evolution of a perturbed non-rotating neutron star, demonstrating the capability of our schemes to operate also on the full Einstein-Euler system. Altogether, these results provide a solid foundation for addressing more complex and challenging simulations of astrophysical sources through DG schemes on unstructured 3D meshes.